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tv   CNN Newsroom  CNN  August 28, 2012 9:00am-11:00am EDT

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welcome back to "starting point." we have been broadcasting live all morning from new orleans. and we'll do it again tomorrow. tropical storm isaac slowing down in its movement, and that's problematic. that means a big rain event here. new orleans squarely in isaac's path with landfall expected tonight or early tomorrow morning. and of course they are expecting a storm surge as well. some calculating that storm surge at 12 feet. expecting to hear from barack obama. he'll make a live statement about isaac and we'll cover that live for you when it happens. coming up tomorrow on "starting point," we'll do our show from here again from new orleans. update out what is happening as that storm is happening. "cnn newsroom" with carol costello is beginning right now. see you back here tomorrow morning, everybody. >> hi, soledad. thanks. happening now in the newsroom, isaac moves in on the verge of becoming a full-fledged storm, threatening the gulf
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coast with a 12-foot wall of water. >> i'm david mattingly in gulfport, mississippi, where lessons of the past with hurricane katrina are helping people all along the coast here prepare for isaac. i'll have that story coming up. and good morning from tampa, where the two republican rock stars arrive into town today. both mitt romney and paul ryan. but it's a certain new jersey governor that everyone is buzzing about. mr. chris christie. we'll talk about him and his big keynote speech coming up. and samuel l. jackson tweeting, it is unfair republicans in tampa were spared from hurricane isaac. this morning the fallout and inevitable apology. "cnn newsroom" begins right now. and good morning. thank you so much for joining us this morning. i'm carol costello. we begin right now with tropical storm isaac. right now it's growing stronger and closer and expected to be a
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hurricane when it charges ashore. new orleans and the mississippi gulf coast in the crosshairs. isaac's landfall to come late tonight or early tomorrow, the seventh anniversary of hurricane katrina. and it is that disaster that largely defines how prepared the city of new orleans is today. cnn meteorologist rob marciano is at one of the levees rebuilt in hurricane katrina's aftermath. is the system ready, rob? >> reporter: well, you ask the army corps of engineers and they say a resounding yes. you ask residents and they scratch their head and say, we'll see, because a lot of people point out, you know, we build things as men, and mother nature has a way of sometimes taking them apart. well, yesterday, we showed up close what those pumps and levee systems and channel closures look like on the ground. but we got an opportunity to take an aerial view of them. and i'll share that video with you right now. take a look.
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shortly after taking off on a coast guard chopper, immediately in view is the biggest pumping station in the world. spanning across the intercoastal waterway, part of a $14 billion plan to protect new orleans from hurricane floodwaters. gates to keep the sea water from coming in, and pumps to let the rain water out. there's another 73 pumping stations across five parishes, and some are able to move water at 150,000 gallons per second. on the ground, the floodgates are impressive. but in the air, you really see the enormity of it. the levee system goes on for miles and miles. if the storm is to strengthen to a category 2 storm tonight, will you still sleep well? >> this is the best system that the greater new orleans area has ever seen. >> reporter: bug deeper, built stronger, and standing higher than seven years ago, there are now 133 miles of levee wall
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around the city. new orleans' most exposed flank is here, on the eastern side. this seawall, nearly two miles long. and according to the army corps of engineers, this barrier to the sea is ready. >> it's not just any seawall. those pylons go down 100 to 200 feet to the ground. they remind me that if the walls don't hold katrina, the people providing this view from above may be the same people saving lives down below. >> we train every day. we train how we fight and we fight every day. and hopefully we don't have to use those skills, but in this case we're ready. we have crews ready and available to respond. >> regardless of the levees, let's not forget about the heroes that saved so many lives during hurricane katrina that will be standing by tonight in case things go wrong as isaac comes ashore. and just as that piece was wrapping up, the rains now
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beginning to come on. time to get the red jacket out. and wait for isaac. you know, it's not just the levee walls, carol. we have to be concerned about this, the rainfall. because as modern as the pumps are, they are only designed to pump out an inch of rain for the first half and half an inch thereafter. and during a tropical system, it can rain a lot faster than that. there is going to be flooding in the city. the question is how bad. >> and i know you'll keep an eye on it for us. rob marciano live from new orleans this morning. the cruel lessons of hurricane katrina extend far behind new orleans and its levee system. much of mississippi was hit by katrina. towns were ripped apart by winds and swallowed by floodwater. dave mattingly showing us how prepared mississippi is today. >> reporter: bay st. louis, mississippi, battered and destroyed by katrina. today still rebuilding. gulfport, mississippi, ocean front destroyed.
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gulfport today, seaside lots still vacant and for sale. the scars of katrina are subtle but plentiful, as isaac now bears down the same path, due to hit the same day. but mississippians stand ready. >> you look at what's happened the past 200 years this house should be high enough to sustain anything we have seen in the past 200 years. >> reporter: his home was stripped to the foundations by katrina. so like others, he rebuilt stronger and higher. >> 24 feet? >> it's 24 feet above sea level. >> reporter: more than enough, it's believed, to handle isaac. but nowhere are the changes to bay st. louis more obvious than right here on the water front. when katrina hit, the city's old seawall stood at about eight feet high. that wasn't nearly enough to stop the storm surge. so when they rebuilt, this is what they put in its place. in some places, a pile of cement and steel more than double what it used to be.
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the u.s. 90 bridge, a lifeline on the mississippi gulf coast, broken into pieces by katrina, also restored stronger and higher. and gulfport's new $42 million harbor now bracing for its first test. >> the one that was here before katrina was built out of wood. this one is concrete and built like a fortress. >> reporter: that confidence is everywhere. ben stone rebuilt in gulfport when all his neighbors did not. a chance he's willing to take for beach front living. >> it gets angry from time to time, but it's the most beautiful sight i can see. >> reporter: this is what happened to stone's house in katrina. the new one was built with the next big one in mind. windows that can withstand 200 mile per hour winds and cement walls six inches thick. could this house stand up to katrina? >> not with me in it. >> david mattingly joining us now from gulfport.
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you always hear the brave words from people. i know there are some mandatory evacuations for some parts of the state. is anybody leaving? >> reporter: well, yes, they are leaving. and those mandatory evacuations, carol, have been very targeted to those ever-present low-lying areas along the coast here where they knew there was going to be flooding problems from a storm surge and from the rain, which you can see we're getting some of the first bands right now blowing in. some stinging rainfall right now. we're looking at a high tide here in gulfport right now as well. but we're probably going to have to get used to this, because this is just the beginning. we're going to be seeing a lot more of this as the day goes on. everyone really concerned right now about how big of a rain event this storm is going to be. we're looking at inches upon inches of rain across the gulf coast. we're going to see how those new systems to take care of the storm water that were put in after katrina are going to work with this hurricane. carol?
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>> it has begun. david mattingly reporting live from gulfport, mississippi, this morning. mitt romney is expected to arrive in tampa in just about two hours at the replubican national convention's first full day. the convention reconvenes this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. eastern time. a few hours later, romney will be formally nominated as the republican party's presidential candidate. and then tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern, former presidential candidate rick santorum will take the podium. he'll be followed two hours later by senate candidate ted cruz out of texas. and south carolina governor nikki haley will also speak. and then at 10:00 p.m. eastern, right in primetime, mitt romney's wife, ann romney, will speak. she will be followed by the keynote speaker, new jersey governor chris christie. brook baldwin is at the replubican national convention in tampa. i see the excitement to hear chris christie's speech is at fever pitch.
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>> well, the plum of the plum of speaking roles. you think of chris christie, you think of this tough-talking new jersey guy, very affable, self-deprecating humor. but the republicans are also definitely relying on his acerbic tongue to take on the president as they will argue on his failed economic policies the last four years. and you can bet they are hoping that chris christie will be just the ticket to sway those undecided voters nationwide. for new jersey governor chris christie, even a late summer walk on the shore quickly becomes an event. >> hey, governor. how are you? >> hey, man. how are you? >> are you looking out for the working man? >> trying the best we can. >> all right. thank you very much. >> reporter: christie has become a republican rock star who is about to play the concert of his life. >> nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> i think the reason i was picked is because of the job i'm doing here. >> reporter: just a week before christie was to deliver his gop convention keynote speech, he
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talked of building a middle american economy that looked a little more jersey shore. >> i have said right from the state of the address forward that the new jersey comeback has begun. not that the new jersey comeback has arrived. not that the new jersey comeback has peaked. >> reporter: better, bolder, brasher governance. it's a dish republican keynoters like to serve hot. >> americans know that bill clinton's promises have the life span of a big mac on air force one. >> reporter: and the democrats like to dish back. >> there is not a black america and a white america and latino america and asian america. there's the united states. >> reporter: but while the democrats never miss a keynote speech, the republicans had none in two of the last three conventions. >> they have to try to avoid the risk of someone saying something they're not supposed to say. it could be risky to say. >> reporter: chris christie is different. he's popular because he's
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combative. he controls his storyline. >> did i stay on topic? are you stupid? on topic. on topic. next question. >> reporter: 16 former keynoters have run for president. christie says he's happy as new jersey's governor, bristling at suggestions his jersey comeback story didn't make for a good keynote speech after the state unemployment rate rose to 9.9% over the last few months. >> the unemployment rate is a survey, a poll, of 1,200 people in the state. it's not like they're out there specifically counting heads and jobs. that's not what it is. >> reporter: by the end of last week, his jersey comeback theme had gone away. >> there are three words that are not in my speech. on tuesday night. the jersey comeback. >> reporter: he says he's saving his new storyline for the party faithful. so, carol, as we await the big chris christie keynote speech tonight, as i mentioned in the piece, 16 keynote speakers have
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gone on to run for president. a little quiz for you early this morning. two have won the party's nomination. have you barack obama and -- any guesses? any guesses? >> oh, i should know this. >> lyndon johnson. >> lyndon johnson. yeah. i was even alive, but just barely. >> a little something for you this morning. >> thank you, brook. we'll see you in the next hour of "newsroom." cnn's coverage of the replubican national convention will begin tonight, spearheaded by our own wolf blitzer. u.s. service members. a chilling story up next. ♪ ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today
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and of course that suggests that the housing market is in recovery mode. we'll have much more on this later. checking our other top stories at 16 minutes past the hour, prosecutors say a group of u.s. soldiers at fort stewart, georgia, planned to overthrow the government. the soldiers are charged in civilian court with the murder of a fellow soldier and his girlfriend who they considered to be, quote, a loose end in their plot. an israeli court says the death of american rachel cory was an accident. cory was killed nine years ago trying to block an israeli bulldozer from mowing down palestinian homes. the court said the soldier driving the bulldozer simply could not see her. a new look at mars. nasa's curiosity rover sent over these photos or i should say sent way down these photos of mt. sharp, a three-mile high rock formation. rover also received a voice message from nasa's chief and transmitted it back to earth. no one answered him, though. nasa says it's the first time a
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recorded human voice has made such a journey, though. tropical storm isaac is expected to reach hurricane strength and hit new orleans late tonight or early tomorrow. many of the areas on the gulf coast could see as much as 20 inches of rain and 12 inches of surge. the big question this morning, will the new levees hold for isaac? a state of emergency has now been declared in 23 louisiana parishes. joining me by now is a parish president, billy nunguesser. how are you? >> i'm good. how are you? >> i hope you're as well as you can be this morning. seven years after katrina, the first real test of the upgraded levee system. are you confident? >> well, we're real confident in the north end of our parish where we have the protection. our parish is that little finger
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of louisiana that sticks out in the gulf. in the north end, we are protected. normally we would be bussing the hundreds of evacuees four or five hours away. but in this event, because of that 100 year protection, we can keep them right here in the parish. >> well, that is encouraging. you've been around for a long time. you have watched a lot of storms come in. how do you think this one will affect the area? >> well, because the storm is so large, and moving so slow, we will see storm surge beat up against the levee for a long time. and in the areas that are not in the 100 year protection, which are parish levees, we have some real concerns whether they can take the beating, and that's why we called for the evacuation. you know, the night before last, we stayed up all night because we heard it was going to be a category 2 the next morning. that didn't happen. and the fear that people in this region was they were going to wake up and have another katrina coming ashore.
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and we're real glad that didn't happen. it looks like this thing is not going to be as bad as it was expected to be. and hopefully we dodged a bullet. and louisiana gets out of this one without a lot of damage. >> we hope so too. governor jindal, the governor of louisiana, is upset the federal government as in fema is picking up 75% in storm assistance, and then louisiana picks up the rest. is the president and fema doing enough? >> i believe so. you know, we had a great meeting yesterday with the governor. they had a conference call with the president. and i feel confident that they have stepped up and did their part through this disaster as well as helping us with the recovery since katrina. we're just almost back to normal here in plaquemines parish. and we have over $1 billion in levee improvements still to come. we are looking forward to that. we need two or three years without another major storm to get all of those levee protection projects finished so
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then we won't have to be evacuating every time we have a major storm. >> billy nunguesser, thank you so much for joining us this morning. >> thank you. you have a good day. >> you too. or try too, anyway. recent taxes on the wealthy. we know what politicians think about that hot button issue. but what about the average american? we'll share that with you. everyone has goals. take the steps to reach yours, with us with real advice, for real goals. the us bank wealth management advisor can help you. every step of the way. from big steps, to little steps. since 1863 we've helped guide our clients, so they can take the steps to help grow, preserve, and pass along their wealth. so their footsteps can help the next generation find their own path. all of us serving you. us bank ♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader
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now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you this morning, how would you describe mitt romney? tonight, we get to know the real mitt. it won't be from his lips but from his much more emotive wife ann. she'll likely paint a picture of a loving husband who stood by her when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. but as touching as that story is, it has been overshadowed by the picture the democrats have painted of mitt romney as an out of of touch millionaire who couldn't care less about the middle class and is only out of it to help his millionaire friends. >> thousands of workers lost jobs, benefits and pensions.
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but for every company he drove into the ground, romney averaged a $92 million profit. now he says his business experience would make him a good president. if romney wins, the middle class loses. >> lately, the romneys have been trying to debunk that image. they are even playing the costco card. >> i know how to shop costco. you go in the door. don't -- i don't want everyone to learn this trick. you go in, take a sharp right, and just shop the outside of the aisles. >> really? >> she also got me one of these three-packs of shirts the other day from costco, and they are very nice shirts. >> he wears them all the time now. >> a pew research poll shows just 44% of americans are even interested in hearing romney's convention speech. you have to wonder is it because of that old saying is really true, americans like a guy in the white house they could chug a beer with, and that's just not how they seem to feel about mitt romney, at least not yet.
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so the talk back question for you this morning, how would you describe mitt romney? facebook.com/carolc facebook.com/carolcnn. your comments later this hour. if mitt romney wants to win the election, he absolutely needs to close the gender gap. at least a little bit. the republican ticket down 12 percentage points among women voters. i'll ask republican congresswoman and convention delegate what she thinks romney ought to do. this country was built by working people.
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pensacola beach for just a second. you can see the iconic water tower there as you drive into pensacola, drive out of pensacola toward the beach. as you can see isaac is churning up the waters now. there is wind and some rain. but as you know, isaac is slowly, slowly making its way past mississippi and onto new orleans. we'll keep you posted. also this morning, we're watching the opening bell on wall street. the u.s. markets could see small gains as investors wait for the fed chairman's comments later this week. ringing the bell today, british open champ ernie els and seth wah. former senator arlen specter is battles for his life according to a source close to his office. specter has had previous battles with cancer and was recently diagnosed with a new form of cancer just about six weeks ago. a source telling cnn specter suffered a big flare-up of the disease last night. the rich don't pay enough in taxes. that is the opinion of 58% of americans surveyed by the pew research center last month.
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65% think the gap between rich and poor has grown. that's because it has. and 63% say the republican party favors the rich over the middle class and the poor. republicans are hoping to attract the attention of more americans with their convention. mitt romney arrives in tampa in less than two hours, and he will receive the party's formal nomination as the party's presidential candidate. also tonight as you know, his wife, ann romney, will give a primetime speech. she will be followed by the keynote speaker, the new jersey governor chris christie. let's get back to ann romney, though, because it is a big day for her. not only does she have to paint a warmer, more compassionate picture of her husband, she has to assure women throughout the country there is no republican war on women. as sort of a preview, the governor's personal assistant sent out this twit pic of ann romney baking her family famous welsh cakes. in case you don't know what they are, they are kind of like stones and they look pretty delicious to me.
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marsha blackburn is here to set the stage and talk about women in the republican party. welcome. >> thank you. good to be with you. >> so can you imagine how ann romney is feeling right about now? >> well, i think ann romney is very well prepared. and i think she's probably a little bit excited, don't you? she's going to be able to talk about her husband. and talk about their life. and how they have reared these children, how they have built these businesses. talk about the importance of those grandchildren in the life of their family. so big day for her. and i think an incredibly exciting day. >> the democrats have managed to paint a pretty grim picture of who mitt romney is. even some republican analysts say that the republicans have let that go on too long. i mean, what can ann romney say tonight that will change the perception in americans' minds about her husband?
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>> well, i think she's going to talk about what makes mitt romney unique. and talk about the relationship that the two of them have. and what he can do for the country. his commitment to his country. and, you know, i have to tell you, carol, i think women are really waiting to hear what we have to say about mitt romney and paul ryan. and their plans to turn this economy around. it is issue number one, with female voters. >> it is issue number one, the economy. but of course the abortion issue has crept into this race. and i have to ask you about this. another republican sticks his foot in his mouth. the man running for the senate in pennsylvania. he kind of did a todd akin. let's listen. >> i lived something similar to that with my own family. she chose life, and i commend her for that. she knew my views. but, fortunately for me, i
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didn't to -- she chose the way i thought. no, don't get me wrong. it wasn't rape. >> similar how? >> uh, having a baby out of wedlock. >> that's similar to rape? >> no, no, no, but put yourself in the father's position. yes. i mean it is similar. >> in essence he compared to getting pregnant when you're raped to becoming pregnant out of wedlock. something he probably should not have said. i mean, does that make it more difficult for republicans, that those kinds of missteps keep happening? >> well, i could not hear what was being said on the tape very clearly, and i haven't heard the remarks. but i'll just say this. when somebody in the republican party does a bidenism, you see us deal with the issue. and i think that just as with mr. akin, you will see the same type response, appropriate response, for whatever the remarks were.
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and the point remains that the number one issue for women is jobs and the economy. the number two issue for women is repealing obama care and getting that off the books. and moving toward a patient centered health care system. and those are the things as i am meeting with women all across the country and, you know, primarily women, are independent voters. they look at the issues. they look at what is happening out there. we have an opportunity to get this message out to female voters. you know, there's no doubt about it. there is a gender gap, if you will, for women, with our republican candidates. but bear in mind, there's a gender gap for barack obama. and it is with male voters. >> but the gender gap among women is much greater than the gender gap among men with the democrats. i just want to ask you one more thing about this todd akin controversy. just this morning, the dnc took out this full-page ad in the
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"tampa tribune" and brought up again this issue of abortion, abortion rights. another thing that's come up, mike huckabee, who has been a big supporter of todd akin, he will speak at the republican national convention. there are people out there saying he should not speak because he's been so supportive of todd akin. >> well, you know, i'm not one of those making the decisions on who speaks or who doesn't speak. but when you have a president and vice president that cannot run on their record, 42 months of above 8% unemployment, you are going to have that party trying to deflect and move to issues that they think that there's something there that they can go tie to. some of the women that i was getting emails from today kept saying, you know, look, that was talked about 30 years ago. let's talk about jobs and the economy. i'm a small business owner. i'm having trouble getting
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access to capital. i'm having trouble keeping the doors of my business open. i can't hire employees. those are the issues that women are focused on. and this is an opportunity for us to reach them with a very strong economic message and to make certain that they understand the gop is the great opportunity party, and that i are very welcomed and very much at home in our party. >> congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you. absolutely. good to be with you. >> thanks so much. samuel l. jackson. oh, is he upset. he's upset that tropical storm isaac skipped over the republican convention. he vented about it on twitter. it was pretty bad. we'll tell you about it.
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and now it is sunny in gulfport, mississippi. but of course the danger has not passed. the storm is only predicted to get worse. we'll keep you posted. isaac as you know is causing lots of people to flee and some to go just a little bit crazy. samuel l. jackson, the guy who most recently played nick fury in ironman, let loose a little fury by twitter. he wrote that it was unfair that tropical storm isaac had spared the gop convention. "showbiz tonight" host aj hammer is here to tell us more. why? >> well, samuel l. jackson calls it like he sees it, anyway. he got a little political. but then, carol, in his own words, he stirred up a hornet's nest with this series of tweets on monday. the actor sarcastically wondered aloud why tropical storm isaac appeared to be heading for new orleans rather than tampa, site of the gop convention. let me read to you what he tweeted monday afternoon that started this whole thing. there's quite a bit of profanity so i am cleaning it here. he said unfair.
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nola probably [ bleep ] again. not understanding god's plan. well, he followed that up half an hour later with this apology. poked a hornet's nest, huh? apologies to god, tampa, the gop, and isaac. and as the online backlash continued, he told his more than 1 million followers to leave the path of danger if asked and instructed them to be safe wherever they are, whatever their politics. >> whether they were republican or democrat. that's better, at least. let's talk about the convention itself. and something exciting about the convention. a lot of celebrities are expected to attend. >> a lot. and like a lot of rnc activities, though, some scheduled concerts including sunday's skynard concert was moved. but the celebrities will abound. they are doing a rescheduled skynard show.
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trace adkins will be doing a show tonight. gavin degraw is performing. so is duo montgomery gentry. they'll headline separate invite only events tonight. kid rock is scheduled for an invite only show on thursday, according to "rolling stone." so the music will continue, despite a little schedule changing. >> that's a good thing. aj hammer, thank you so much. join aj tonight for "showbiz tonight" 11:00 p.m. eastern on hln. atural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now.
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isaac creeping ever closer to the louisiana coast. we want to get the latest from cnn meteorologist karen mcginnis. good morning. >> good morning to you, carol. yes, the latest information from the national hurricane center. that came just about an hour and a half, just under two hours ago. still at tropical storm strength, but don't worry. it has slowed down. and it also is deepening, meaning the central pressure has dropped. we are looking at a live image from wear. the winds are fairly gusty. we are seeing some winds now along the coast gusting up over 40 miles per hour, steadily increasing. the winds associated with tropical storm isaac now at about 70 milesa think hour. at 75 plus, we are looking at hurricane intensity. the biggest problem we're expecting with this as it makes
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landfall sometime during those overnight hours is the storm surge and the heavy rain. in lake pontchartrain, we could see those wave heights as high as 10 feet. but as it makes its way onshore, perhaps as a category 1, we are looking at the potential for this to make its way towards the city of baton rouge, losing a little bit of its intensity. but a lot of those areas along the coast, from grand isle to morgan city and into metry, are still looking at high winds but the storm surge will be very critical. we have been tweeting about this information. and take a look at this, developed exclusively for cnn. lots of tweets coming in. many hundreds coming within a minute's time period. carol, we'll monitor that and keep everyone updated. >> sometimes you get the best information from those twitter users. thank you so much, karen. >> thanks so much. new orleans mayor has not issued an evacuation order, but
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he is urging people outside of the city's protective levees to get out. of course, not everyone is heeding the call to leave. >> i've been in it. seen everything, so it don't faze me. >> here we are, tied up. beautiful day. we got a thunderstorm out in the gulf. that's the way i look at it. >> cnn's soledad o'brien is in new orleans french quarter. this is forecast to be a category 1 storm. pre-katrina, that would not have been a big deal. but is it now? >> you know, i think people's senses are heightened. they're worried and anxious, certainly because the timing is kind of ominous. obviously, it falls on the same anniversary of hurricane katrina. but katrina was seven years earlier. the timing i think makes people a little nervous. but the truth is the category 1 with the improvements in the levee systems, it's supposed to be able to withstand category 3 and higher.
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they feel very comfortable with category 1 and maybe even category 2, which might be expected here. so they feel that not having evacuation of folks in the levee system for those who lie outside the levee system, they say, yes, it's a mandatory evacuation especially in plaquemans parish. people are watching the weather very closely. and they feel comfortable to stay. >> they did a good job boarding up those windows there in the french quarter. >> not as much as you might think, though, carol. >> really? >> yeah. and again, i think that's a testament to the fact that people don't think of a category 1 as a major, major event. if you look down here, this is boarded up. and there they boarded it up. but this one is not. and down there is not. and down there is not. >> oh, and certainly not down there not. we lost soledad o'brien. we lost soledad o'brien.
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and if we can get her back, we'll go back to new orleans. we wanted you to ta back on one of the abobig stories ofe day. how would you describe mitt romney? your responses next. one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream. america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. like a squirrel stashes nuts,
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harvard. >> good morning. harvard is out with stats on the mba class of 2012. you know what, the numbers are pretty impressive. median salary came in at $125,000 a year for business grads. if you add in signing bonus, we're talking about median pay that tops 170,000 bucks. just to be clear, this is harvard. the top-ranked business school in the country and only 13% of applicants even get in, but because these are the best and brightest, salaries can be two to three times the salary of lesser known schools, but overall, they're doing pretty well. median salaries come in at about $90,000. mbas still make about $40,000 more than those with the bachelor's degree. >> so, for people who can't afford harvard and maybe go to public universities. >> you know, we're talking about the top schools.
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this was u.s. news and world report. stanford and what not. but you know, there is a little bit of difference if we're talking about you know, which jobs let's say you're going for. harvard is saying that the biggest paycheck for grads who jump into private equity, those firms who invest in company, bain capital, mitt romney, how he made his millions. they got paid a lot of money and also, hedge funds in consulting jobs. not so well paid, government and non-profit jobs. >> thanks koch we asked you the talk back. how would you describe mitt romney? this from aaron. for sale. there's never been a candidate that has ever been so blatantly for sale. uncomfortable. this from paul. i know romney, not well, but i did go to church with him and his family. my mother new his parents well.
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romney is a real person and cares deeply about people. this from sherry. close minded. can't make a decision of where he stands. has no idea what it's like to be middle class. this from paul. well intentioned, but detached and ouch touch. running for president strikes me as an achievement. this from darren. wealthy and successful. two things liberals hate. devoted family man and financial genius. keep the conversation going. facebook.com. i'll have more responses in the next hour. isaac, on the verge of becoming a hurricane. it set its sight on the gulf coast. we're standing by as president obama prepares to talk about isaac. of course, you recognize the superdome in the city of new orleans. we'll be right back. ir dentures. but they have to use special care in keeping the denture clean. dentures are very different to real teeth. they're about 10 times softer
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jessica yellin is cnn's chief white house correspondent. she's in tampa. what do you expect the president to say? >> we expect he will talk about the preparations underway to prepare residents for the hurricane if it becomes one when it hits. some of the efforts he's made to get briefed and some of the contacts he's made to the governors in the area. we know already that the president has had conversations with the governors. he also issued an emergency declaration for the state of louisiana. and he was briefed by the chief administrator of fema and director of the national weather center, so he is in constant contact. the white house is going to make clear and i think the president is trying to just make the nation clear that everybody who needs to be on forward footing is right now as this storm approaches.
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>> while you were talking, we saw a number of live shots from cities and beaches along the gulf coast experiencing the early stages of isaac. when the president gbegins to speak, we'll bring that to you live. the mayor of new orleans did not issue the order to get out. much of the reason, a new fortified levee system. it's been rebuilt after the levees breached in hurricane katrina. brian, are the new levee's ready? >> carol, officials here are very confident that the new levee system is ready. they spent nearly $11 billion upgrading it since hurricane katrina, so they are sure hoping it's ready and they are confident it is ready for this storm. one thing that is a bit of a point of difference here, what they're talking about is that this was upgraded to handle a storm the size and rarity that
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would come every 100 year, but we spoke to tim duty. this is the group that monitors what the army corps of engineers builds and inspects. they have a watchdog status for these things and what he told us is that yes, while they're pleased with the once every 100 year upgrade to this, he says they should allocated the money to build something that would handle a greater storm. here's what he had to say. >> other developed countries are building to a much higher standard. surely, it's going to be more expensive to do that, but a hundred year standard is not what we would have them build to. we would like a 500 year or 1,000 year standard. >> so, that's what he's having a look at this morning as far as just you know, they want to look ahead and project ahead to future storms and how many may come and what they're going to be ready for in the decades
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ahead and that's what he's talking about, but as of this morning and this storm, they are confident this levee system is going to hold. they've got 133 miles of upgraded flood gates, levees and seawalls here and they are very confident it's going to withstand the storm. what we are going to show you here is the waterfront. the port operations have been shut down. the cargo terminal, you can see these tankers. piloting operations from the mouth of the mississippi river up this way have been shut down for at least the next couple of days. another key question, that bridge right there, the crescent city connection, it's a very high bridge as you can see. no plans to close it as of now, but they're going to be monitoring this storm. >> yeah, and the winds and the rain. thank you so much. live from new orleans this morning. want to talk to someone who not only witnessed the levee's breach, he took charge of a city sliding into chaos.
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it was chaos in new orleans at the time of hurricane katrina. russell honore was the man who coordinated efforts in the wake of katrina. he's now retired, but is kind enough to join us from baton rouge. welcome, general. >> good morning. >> president obama is set to speak in about seven minutes. what do you hope he says? >> i hope he uses presidential power and declare this a hurricane and get it over with so people are not confused that it's just a tropical storm. we knew it will reach based on the science sometime this evening, but we need to be taking action now and treating this like a hurricane, a category 1 hurricane, but as it gets late e, it's going to get dark and people will not act, thinking it's just a thunderstorm. i hope that's what he declares. i know the government is treating it like a hurricane, but we should not confuse the people saying it's just a tropical storm.
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>> governor jindal, the governor of louisiana, he seemed upset that the federal government wasn't putting forth more money for storm preparation. the federal government's going to pay 75%. state of louisiana has to pay the rest. is he right to be critical? >> well, the staff and i, that's the way it was written. congress approved this. this is gone through both administration. the challenge is and always has been when i was on the other side, is that the states, if they have no stake in what things cost, then things can cost anything. the fact they have to pay 25%, it keeps costs down down and is a budgeting issue. after katrina, a lot of requirements for the states to pay 25% were weighed. again, that's money we have to borrow from somewhere to pay that. so that is a dilemma and good
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for them to argue over that, but that's why they get paid the big bucks, carol. >> yeah. i'm sure most of american rs sayinsay i we're with you. so, that's one change since katrina. what others need to be done to totally protect the people along the gulf coast? >> remind them that they must be prepared to be their own first respondent because the assets the government has, people without rods, the poor, the elderly, who are shut in at home and people that are special needs. you know, a lot of the people who passed away were people that lived at home. that's a fact. most of them were poor. many had disabilities. that's who the government has to focus on.
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poor people who do not have the ability to leave if they want to leave. a lot of people have improved their homes along south louisiana. the infrastructure. $10 billion has been invested. that will make a big difference. the challenge today is a foot of water along coastal louisiana in your community, and can your community handle that without flooding? this will be a big rain event with maybe winds up to 100 miles an hour and that will turn the lights out in south louisiana and south mississippi. >> i know people have much love and respect for you in the city of new orleans and all along the gulf coast, so what message do you want to bring them today? >> listen to your local government officials. make sure your weather radio is on and operational. and be prepared for the lights going on and have that battery power radio so you can stay
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informed and look at for your neighbors. check in on people that you know live alone and make sure they've got the basic needs because you may be able to participate in the ultimate human experience. save somebody's life. >> thank you so much for being with us this morning. the cruel lessons of hurricane katrina extend far beyond new orleans and its new levee system. much of coastal mississippi was hit by katrina. towns were ripped apart and swallowed by flood waters. david matingly is in gulf port. still windy and rainy. >> reporter: a big difference from an hour ago. right now, we have sunshine. this is so typical as we see these storms coming through with band after band of storms in them. so, this, just an indication that isaac is coming this way and everyone paying attention to
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this storm, even though they've learned some very important lessons from what they went there in hurricane katrina. they've learned that when they rebuilt, they had to rebuild higher and stronger, taking what houses, what might uses to have been wood houses and turning them into cement and steel houses capable of with standing these storms. but everyone right now, paying close attention to their forecast for what might the storm surge be and how much rain. we're expecting this to be a very strong rain event. right now, there are mandatory evacuation orders for two of the three coastal counties in mississippi. that is targeting some low lying areas that they know will have flooding problems and we could see more as this storm gets closer and we see what path it's going to take. >> david, in the last hour, you showed us people who built homes along the beach front.
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put in four to five windows that can with stand winds up to 200 miles per hour. i can't imagine what that must have cost them. >> reporter: that's right and it's been very cost probtive as well as the insurance with people who have wanted to rebuild here. we're finding people with means who live along the coast have been able to rebuild. a lot of others have opted out for a variety of reasons, finances being one common thread among people who have decided not to come back to the life they had right here on this water. >> i'm going to interrupt. the president is speaking. >> and minimize the damage. i just got an update from secretary napolitano, administrator fugate, the head of fema and dr. rick knabb, director of the national hurricane center on preparations that are underway in the gulf. this storm is scheduled to make landfall until later today, but
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at my direction, fema has been on the ground for over a week working with state and local officials in areas that could be affected. from puerto rico, the u.s. virgin islands to florida and more recently, louisiana, alabama and mississippi. yesterday, i approved a disaster declaration for louisiana so they can get the help they need right away, particularly around some of the theevacuations taki place. right now, we already have response teams and supplies ready to help communities in the path of the storm. as we prepare for isaac to hit, i want to encourage all residents of the gulf coast to listen to your local officials and follow their directions, including if they tell you to evacuate. we're dealing with a big storm and there could be significant flooding and other damage across a large area. now is not the time to tempt
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fate. now is not the time to dismiss official warnings. you need to take this seriously and finally, i want to thank everyone who has been working around the clock to get ready for isaac. the hardest work of course is still ahead and as president, i'll continue to make sure that the federal government is doing everything possible to help the american people prepare for and recover from this dangerous storm. and as we get additional updates from the hurricane center, as well as from fema in terms of activities on the ground, we'll be providing continuous updates both local and national level. thank you. >> a very short statement from president obama. basically, he said fema's on the ground. we are ready to go. he declared a disaster declaration for the state of louisiana so they can begin to prepare for this storm and he also urged people to listen to
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their local firnls. if there's an order to evacuate, he said, please do it. jessica yellin is our chief white house correspondent. she is in tampa. the president's schedule said he was going to go on the campaign trail today. did he cancel that? >> no, carol, he's not canceling his planned trip to iowa, colorado and virginia. but the president is making clear here is that he's trying to convey is since first of all to americans who live in these areas that they should obviously heed the warnings and there should be no repeat of what happened obviously with katrina where people didn't do that. but also that the president himself is doing something very different and that there have been, there's a sense of confidence in the white house is what they're trying to convey and that he has been there not just having fema on the ground now, but for more than a week he made clear, preparing and
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getting ready. if there is a message it is that we are ready, organized, prepared and taking this seriously, so you will now see the the president heading to iowa and virginia and colorado as i said, speaking to college campuses and officials there have told me that if things change, if this storm takes a different turn and things get more severe, scheduled could change. >> so, you're at the republican national convention. this is sort of cast a paul over the festivities there. >> you know, it caused them to postpone a day of events and it's caused some of us in the media to sort of take our eye off of what's going on here and you know, make things a bit more serious than they would be otherwise. this should be a celebration and it's not entirely that. but i do think that officials and there's some noise and still a activity going on around us,
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officials here are adjusting the the tone and will still get plenty of attention for the speaker, including ann romney k who's speaking tonight. the gop will get out of this storm and they're being appropriately sensitive to what's going on in another part of the country right now. >> thanks so much. reporting live from tampa this morning. tropical storm isaac is taking away some of the spotlight from the republicans convention, but will it also, i should say, force the convention to change its focus and celebration? we'll ask a gop strategist that question, too. we'll be back. ♪ ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today
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snapshot from progressive. test-drive snapshot before you switch. visit progressive.com today. 17 minutes past the hour. the gop has to share the spotlight with isaac now, but their work is already underway. >> the 2012 republican national convention in session and called to order. >> the republican national convention kicked off yesterday afternoon, but quickly went into recess. the two men on top, mitt romney and paul ryan, will arrive in florida very soon. mitt's wife and chris christie will address the delegates tonight, but christie, he's already on the attack. >> the president is nothing more
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than a chicago ward politician and that's the way he's been acting on this campaign so far. 90 plus per september of his ads, vicious, personal, untrue attacks on mitt romney and we now need to stand up against that because we've had enough of chicago ward politics in the oval office. we need a real leader back in the oval office and we've got to work to get mitt romney there and get him there this november. there's no time to waste, everybody. this is our children's future. >> delegates will nominate mitt romney and paul ryan this afternoon. mitt romney's only hours away from his official nomination. tonight's republican convention events will set the tone for the next few days as the romney campaign tries to convince and convert voter to put him in the white house. ann navarre is live at the convention in tampa. good morning, anna. >> good morning, carol. >> so, everyone is excited for
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chris christie's big speech and for ann romney's, but isaac is out there and you know, maybe during the convention, networks will have to put up a split screen. we might have to put up anderson cooper on one side and you'll have christie slamming president obama as hard as he can. that's not the kind of image republicans are eager for, is it? >> well, carol, we're going to have to walk and chew gum at the same time. multitasking is part of the tryout to be president and i think it is the right thing to do to give this attention to the tropical storm. i'm from miami. i know how quickly it can change and republicans need to show the adequate sensitivity. people expect, american people expect from their president that he will be able to, or she, will
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be able to show empathy, but also respond quickly and appropriately. and we have to show that we're able to do that. and at the same time, the show must go on and we must have a convention and these important speeches and we're going to have hurricane christie coming in at the category 3 instead of a 5. >> we're hoping stay on tropical storm -- >> again -- i can assure you, hurricane christie is going to be on stage today. we just -- maybe the category will be less than it would have been with isaac out there in the gulf. >> now, i was just going to ask you, because will he soften his tone depending on the sfwens intensity of the storm? >> i don't know that he softens his tone. chris christie is chris christie. that's what you get. the genuine article. he is colorful, funny. we're going to see the chris
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christie that we know, some love, some hate. i also think there's going to be an adequate recognition, acknowledgment of what's happening in the gulf. we've got to tell the people in the gulf they are in our thoughts and prayers and that is important and a priority for us as well. >> ann romney. her speech is important because her job is to paint her husband as he is, not how democrats have painted him. what does she have to say to do that? >> i think she's got to tell us about mitt romney, the man. mitt romney, the husband. mitt romney, the father. the son. the mitt romney she loves and she fell in love with. the mitt romney that will be capable of leading, showing empathy. ann romney can relate very easily to people. she is a very likable character. a great asset to mitt romney. today, she sets the stage for the american people to get to
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know mitt romney better. that is a must for mitt romney. for the american people to feel they know him better. >> it seems that her job is to make him more interesting, too. research did a poll and showed only 44% of americans are going to bother to watch mitt romney's speech. >> well, they might not watch the entire speech, but they're going to watch review, read about it. you're going to hear a lot about the speech at a convention is a very important deal. and one of the things that we've got to do is get americans motivated and interested because it is a huge opportunity for mitt romney. he's got a few coming up, but this speech is certainly probably the most important of his life so far. >> and it's very important for the country. i know i'm going to be watching. all americans should be watching to see what he has to say. he's running for president. it's a big decision we have to make in just a couple of weeks now. thanks so much for being with us this morning. >> thanks, carol. we may learn more about the
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real mitt romney when ann romney speaks tonight. we're asking you though, how would you describe mitt romney today? it's a topic of our talkback segment. that's next. [ male announcer ] if you stash tissues
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the question this morning, how would you describe mitt romney? tonight's the night we get to know the real mitt. it won't be from his lips, but from ann. she'll likely paint a picture of a loving husband who stood by her, but as touching as that story is, it has been overshadowed by the picture the democrats have painted of mitt romney as an out of touch millionaire who couldn't care less about the middle class and who's in it only to help his rich friends. >> romney bought companies, drowned them in debt. many went bankrupt. thousands of workers lost jobs, benefits and pensions, but for every company he drove into the ground, romney averaged a $92 million profit. now, he says his business experience would make him a good president?
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if romney win, the middle class loses. >> lately, the romneys have been trying to debunk that unlikable a image painted by the democrats. even playing the the costco card. >> i know how to shop costco. you go in the door. i don't want everyone to learn. you take a sharp right, go down to the back of the store and just shop the outside of the the ales. boom, boom, boom. >> also got me one of these three packs of shirts and they're very nice. >> he's wearing them all the time now. >> question is, will that sort of thing work? a poll shows just 44% of americans are even interested in hearing romney's convention speech. you have to wonder is it because of that old saying is really true? americans like a guy in a white house they could chug a beer with? that's not how they seem to feel about mitt romney, at least not yet. question today, how would you describe mitt romney? facebook.com/carolcnn.
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your responses later this hour. next up, the gulf coast, tropical storm isaac bears down. residents settle in. >> because i've been through katrina, i've been in a water, seen animals floating, everything. so, it don't, it don't faze me. >> some residents will ride out the storm. we'll take you to one community virtually emptied though after evacuation orders went out. the wheels of progress haven't been very active lately.
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activated. in mississippi, they're calling up 1,500 troops and the airport will close at noon eastern today. in alabama, a mandatory evacuation order has been ordered for parts of baldwin and mobile and thousands of homes in miami-dade county are without power this morning. so, where is isaac now and how fast is it moving? >> good morning and yes, all eyes are watching the gulf as this very broad system is just kind of winding its way even more slowly than it had been. by the way, another update from the national hurricane center coming up in just about a half an hour. but it's moving towards the northwest at about 7 miles an hour. this out of gulf port, mississippi. the waves are kicking up, but not the worst we'll expect for the afternoon. conditions will be deteriorating
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rapidly. perhaps after about the 2:00 hour. as i mentioned, this is moving slowly to the northwest. it's just a little less than 100 miles out of the gulf of mississippi. out of the mouth of the mississippi. some of the wind gusts we have seen are right around 40 miles an hour. it's going to creep along the coast, perhaps make landfall around the midnight hour, 2:00 in the morning, but we'll have meteorologists keeping you updated. >> thank you. the mandatory evacuation ordered include grand isle, louisiana. a tiny fishing village nestled on a barrier island. ed lavandera is in grand isle. did people leave? >> reporter: a lot of people have left. in fact, i just spoke with the mayor a little while ago. this is an island that usually has between 2,000 people and
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2,500 people and is down acco according to the mayor, about 30. that includes a lot of the ems folks who are staying back. we're at the home of a man who has a huge shrimping empire here. this is the base side of the island if you look back this way. the wind has been coming out of the north, so a lot of the surge has been minimal coming from the bay water. this is where the gulf of mexico is. we're about half a mile away r from the gulf waters there. there's a levee wall that goes up and down the shore. my colleague ali velshi, hurricane gustav, he road out the storm here. it was an intense scene. by the time it made landfall, it was a category 2. the concern here really will be
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the storm surge from the predictions, saying those storm surges could reach up to about seven feet where we are here and in some places, could reach as high as 12 feet, so that is one of the things we will be watching closely and this is one of the initial bands of rain that we have seen. we had one about an hour ago that's come through. it's come through a couple of times and the winds are starting to pick up, but so far, everything looking good here on grand isle, but obviously, these conditions will start to deteriorate rather quickly. >> i hope that homeowner stays safe. that's the last place i'd want to be, on an island with a 12-foot storm surge, but that's just me. many residents will be riding out isaac, some by choice. some by duty. in mississippi, the power company there, crews are already stacking up their trucks, getting ready to roll iffi izsa
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knocks out electricity. grocery stores also keeping their shelves field. many keeping their carts filled with nonpairishables just in case. >> we know what you have to have to make due until that power comes back on. >> it's loud, it's noisy and you're going to be knocked around and if you're not used to it, it's going to scare the dickens out of you. >> a lot of who have been here through katrina, they're going to hunker down and do their best to be ready for it. >> emergency officials say people should not be fooled by isaac. it will be a slow moving storm dumping as much as 20 inches of rain and likely causing widespread flooding. back to politics now. virginia has the youngest gop delegate attending the convention. he's not even old enough to vote. he's just 17. we're going to talk to him live
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it is 40 minutes past the hour. republicans have scaled back their convention to three days because of isaac and the platform might take more of a backseat to the storm. shawn spicer is the communications director for the rnc, he's live in tampa. welcome. so, the storm is start tog intensify now. how worried are you that people will be paying more attention to
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the storm than to the republican national convention? >> well, obviously, our number one concern is for anyone who may be affected by the storm and we're going to be keeping an eye on that and tracking it. we obviously have important business to do here in terms of officially nominating our nominee in making sure that mitt romney and paul ryan are able to go forward as our nominee and move on to the general election. >> is there a plan b? i mean, if the storm becomes fregs? >> as you noted in your introduction, we've been flexible so far as far as being able to scale back. we'll continue to monitor the storm going forward, but we look forward, as it stands now, we've got a packed schedule tonight. we'll start this afternoon at 2:00 with the official business of the convention so that we can get that out of the way and then we've got a great lineup tonight
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including governor chris christie and ann romney. >> chris christie is expected to speak in prime time. 10:00 p.m. eastern. is there any plan for chris christie perhaps tone things down a bit because we know what his tendencies are and a lot of people enjoy them, but a storm will be taking place along the gulf coast. >> i think governor christie is going to deliver a great speech tonight and then mrs. romney will follow that. all i can tell you is that we're going to continue to monitor the storm, watch to make sure if anyone's affected, that we take appropriate steps in terms of our messaging, but governor christie is going to deliver a great understanding of who mitt romney is and why he needs to become the next president and then mrs. romney i think is going to give us an understanding of the man behind this, behind mitt romney. the husband, the father, the
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type of person that goes out and has been helping people throughout his entire life. >> there's a new poll out. it shows only 44% of americans are even planning to watch mitt romney's speech. does that concern you? >> until we see the numbers, i think we'll see what they are, but again, i think we've got an electorate where a lot of people have made up their mind one way or the other. we're hoping to continue to reach out to folks who maybe haven't focused on the election so far to give them an understanding of our team, what we call the comeback team and their vision for america. so in terms of who the audience is, we'll have to look at those demographics afterwards, but i think for those who haven't seen him beyond a 30 second ad or have just seen the attack ads will have an opportunity here, folks who know him well and hopefully himself on thursday night when he gets to elaborate
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more on thursday night, who he is, the vision for this country, the the plan to turn the economy around to deal with energy independent. so, all of that is an opportunity for those who may not be following the day-to-day of this cycle. >> thanks so much. we'll be back with more on "newsroom." you see us, at the start of the day. on the company phone list that's a few names longer. you see us bank on busier highways. on once empty fields. everyday you see all the ways all of us at us bank are helping grow our economy. lending more so companies and communities can expand, grow stronger and get back to work. everyday you see all of us serving you, around the country, around the corner. us bank.
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just in to cnn. these pictures out of broward county, florida, in the southeastern part of the state. folks in florida already suffering flooding. if the shot were directed at the house, you would see it's surrounded in water. right now, these poor horses are just standing in the water. but the entire neighborhood is flooding. also just in, a gas line explosion in mckinney, texas. emergency responders are now on the scene. traffic is shut down in the area. so far, no reports of any injuries. a question for you this morning. do you remember what you were doing when you were 17 years d
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old? i was representing my home room in student council in high school. i don't hold a candle to that guy though. the republican convention's youngest delegate is 17 years old. he's representing his state of virginia. he will turn 18 by election day, which would allow him to vote and serve as a delegate. evan live in tampa. good morning, evan. >> thank you so much for having me. >> oh, we're glad you're here. when did you get interested in politics? >> well, i've been interested in politics for a few years. i consider my interest in politics a result of my family background. my family immigrated to the united states as hungarian refugees. i think to give me the economic freedom and individual liberty that they lacked in their home land and my involvement in politics, especially the conservative movement, i think is really meant to preserve those values for me and my descendants in years to come.
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>> how did you get to be a delegate? >> well, i ran in the eighth congressional district to become a delegate, i got elected by the voters from my district at the district convention in may. i ran a campaign of about four months, reaching out to those voters through phone calls and in-person appearances and i really credit my victory to the fact the republican party understands that young voters have been impacted by this president's policies. the negative impact of his policies is keeping a lot of students from achieving the opportunities their parents achieved as persons and they wanted to send a younger representative to tampa to have a part in finding a solution to those problems. >> okay, so this is a big responsibility. so, many polls show that young people are many into president obama than they are mitt romney. why do you think that is? >> well, i think in the past, first, i think younger voters
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are actually moving more towards the republican party and conservative movement and we have a great opportunity to make enroads in that demographic in this next election. i think in the past, younger voters may not have been earning a salary or payi ining taxes yed we may not have thought in a more expansive government, the costs were on us. the republican party has unveiled their debt clock in the convention hall and i think younger voters are becoming aware as the debt approaches $16 billion, that's not even counting the billions of dollars the obama administration has taken out of the medicare and social security funds for political expediency. young americans can no longer say those costs are not being levied upon us. so i think you'll see younger voters, yeah. >> i was just going to say that said, as you said, many young
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voters don't think about such things. some might say the tcool factor is why they like president obama. >> i agree with that in a sense. i think that four years ago, president obama was a huge celebrity with younger voters because he promised us a more positive and optimistic future. but four years later, that same candidate has resulted in a 12.7% youth unemployment rate. half of recent college graduates have been forced to move back in with their parents and also, i feel like a lot of decision making once left up to private, individual citizens, has now been transferreded to the government and i think that counters what younger citizens use. younger citizens should want the same freedom from their government. and so i think as we're going into 2012, a lot of younger
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voters have become apathetic about the election because the candidate they supported so overwhelmingly the last time has really let them down and i think -- >> we got to wrap it up there, but thank you so much. >> thank you so much for having me. >> appreciate you being here. mitt romney has promised to repeal obama care if he's elected. what would that mean for people with preexisting conditions? we're going break that down for you. well another great thing about all this walking i've been doing is that it's given me time to reflect on some of life's biggest questions. like, if you could save hundreds on car insurance by making one simple call, why wouldn't you make that call? see, the only thing i can think of is that you can't get any... bars. ah, that's better. it's a beautiful view. i wonder if i can see mt. rushmore from here.
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you'll hear a lot about health care as the republican national convention moves into full gear. mitt romney has vowed to repeal obama's health care law in elected. joining me now, elizabeth cohen and let's talk about preexisting conditions now, for example, ann romney, she's battled breast cancer and is now dealing with multiple sclerosis. >> what obama care did was it said hey, insurance company, you have to insure these people. we know you don't want to, but you have to and you can't charge them extra, which is what they often did in the past. governor romney says he wants to get rid of this rule and instead, what he would say to people with preexisting conditions is if you've had continuous coverage in the past, then we'll give you protection. so let's listen to what he said in the speech. >> say someone has been
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continuously insured and develop a serious conditions. they move and go to a new place. i don't want them to be denied insurance because they've got some preexisting condition, so we're going to have to make sure the law we replace obama care with assures that people who have a preexisting condition are insured in the future. >> now, this rule, you would have to have continuous coverage if you have a preexisting condition, that would pertain to children and adults. >> thanks so much. we asked you to talk back on one of the biggest stories of the day. how would you describe mitt romney? this, from john. a true blue american hero. employed many of us who made our lives better. this lesser of two evils. lots of talk back responses. i'm sorry we couldn't get to more, but thank you so much for responding and continuing the
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conversation. we continue with ashleigh banfield right after this. and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance and provide you with options tailored to your business. we've loaned more money to small businesses than any other bank for nine years running. so come talk to us to see how we can help. wells fargo. together we'll go far. would you mind if to be i go ahead of you?omer. instead we had someone go ahead of him and win fifty thousand dollars. congratulations you are our one millionth customer. people don't like to miss out on money that should have been theirs. that's why at ally we have the raise your rate 2-year cd. you can get a one-time rate increase if our two-year rate goes up. if your bank makes you miss out, you need an ally. ally bank. no nonsense. just people sense.
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